A question I seem to get quite a bit these days from my clients is ” What is the difference between short sales and REO’s?” I then , usually, go into a whole explanation of the pro’s and con’s of each, and end up telling them that REO’s are superior in every way. I have a couple of dealings over the past couple of months that really bring this point home.
For over a year now, I have had the pleasure of dealing with a wonderful family. They in North Hollywood, and have been searching for their perfect house in this area for quite awhile now. The first few times we looked around, we didn’t find anything that would have benefited their situation. The family had decided to take about a year, waiting for prices to drop, before they wanted to search again.
Recently, I took this same couple on the hunt again, and they finally found a cabin that they felt was perfect for them. The cabin sat on a beautifully Oak Tree serene setting, and was impeccably clean. The asking price was a $149,000, but well worth it. There was one problem with the cabin, and that was that it was listed as a short sale. I did of course explain to the couple the hassles that typically come along with buying a home on a short sale, but they were so smitten with the property, they were willing to take their chances.
We had waited about a month, and still hadn’t heard back from the bank. In my mind I already knew the selling agent hadn’t done his part to get the process going to complete a short sale. I informed my clients that our only choice now was to wait for a response from the bank. About another month or so went by before the selling agent informed me that the bank pulled the listing without giving a response to our offer.
Which just goes to show you that short sales can be very unpredictable. I am sure this saga will continue…
Article submitter Mike Kohn has much experience shopping a home for sale and homes for sale overall. Read more of his articles on the web.
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